A powerful rename

simotrone · 09-26-2015, 09:48 AM

The rename program coming with Slackware is the really basic utility from util-linux-2.21.2 package.

I spend a lot of time on Debian and I'm used to the Perl rename with proper options (-n for dry-run actions) and powerful regex to play.
For example, I find always useful the grouping:

Code:

sim@rame:/tmp/test$ ls
file_0.pdf  file_10.pdf  file_3.pdf  file_5.pdf  file_7.pdf  file_9.pdf
file_1.pdf  file_2.pdf   file_4.pdf  file_6.pdf  file_8.pdf
sim@rame:/tmp/test$ # -n = this is a test
sim@rame:/tmp/test$ rename -n 's/^(\w+)_(\d+)\.pdf$/$2_$1.pdf/' *pdf
rename(file_0.pdf, 0_file.pdf)
rename(file_1.pdf, 1_file.pdf)
rename(file_10.pdf, 10_file.pdf)
rename(file_2.pdf, 2_file.pdf)
rename(file_3.pdf, 3_file.pdf)
rename(file_4.pdf, 4_file.pdf)
rename(file_5.pdf, 5_file.pdf)
rename(file_6.pdf, 6_file.pdf)
rename(file_7.pdf, 7_file.pdf)
rename(file_8.pdf, 8_file.pdf)
rename(file_9.pdf, 9_file.pdf)
sim@rame:/tmp/test$ # it seems ok
sim@rame:/tmp/test$ rename 's/^(\w+)_(\d+)\.pdf$/$2_$1.pdf/' *pdf
sim@rame:/tmp/test$ ls
0_file.pdf   1_file.pdf  3_file.pdf  5_file.pdf  7_file.pdf  9_file.pdf
10_file.pdf  2_file.pdf  4_file.pdf  6_file.pdf  8_file.pdf

So, if you need a more powerful rename you can install the File::Rename module from cpan: it will come with the rename script in /usr/local/bin.

Emphyrio · 09-26-2015, 10:35 AM

I always like to do these things with awk:

Code:

ls *.pdf | awk '{print "mv "$1" "gensub(/^(.*)_(.*)\.pdf/,"\\2_\\1.pdf",$1)}' | sh

(rather than learning new commands

)

STDOUBT · 09-26-2015, 01:01 PM

@simotrone
http://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.1/system/rename/
Similar to your solution I guess..

pzognar · 09-26-2015, 05:08 PM

I always used mv to rename. An actual rename command is a surprise to me.

lems · 09-26-2015, 11:21 PM

There is also rename by Perl wiz (and former Slackware user) Aristotle Pagaltzis.

qweasd · 09-27-2015, 02:15 AM

I use the stock rename for things like .JPG -> .jpg, it works great. This thread made me read about regexes yet again, and yet again I am not a fan. A regex match always halts, so it's not as good as TM. So if I had an real bad itch, I would scratch it with feeding file names into a turing-complete process, which boils down to a custom script in your favorite language.

GazL · 09-27-2015, 04:17 AM

I've spent the best part of 20 years on slackware and I'm used to the util-linux version of 'rename'. IMO if debian felt the need to ship the regex based rename tool, they should have given it a different name so that both can coexist without confusing the user.

rkelsen · 09-27-2015, 06:17 PM

At the risk of sounding like a GUI-using softy, I've found the "Bulk Rename" utility provided by XFCE to do a superb job with very little effort...